Never Say Never
by Silent Movements
Summary: Set after the TLO, before TLH, Annabeth and Percy were sent to a quest... And it happened... -Oneshot         -Be easy on me, first fanfic    I don't own anything!   R&R please


"Annabeth!" I screamed. She was laying there, limp. I could see her insides, I could actually see them in the raw gaping crack in her stomach. It had come dangerously close to her chest, and blood was everywhere.

A blade tore at my heart.

"No, Annabeth!" I yelled, dropping to my knees beside her and taking her cold hands in mine.

"Annabeth, stay strong. Come on, Wise Girl. You can do it. Wake up."

Her eyelids fluttered.

Her rasping voice cut through my heart worse than any weapon Hephaestus could have wielded. "Percy – call for – help – don't try waking me up - it hurts more when I'm - concious…" she blacked out.  
>The sadness drained out of me and anger flooded in.<p>

"Annabeth," I said, shaking her. Her eyes flew open. "Who did this to you?" I demanded.

"Kro - Kronos. It didn't look like him, but – I got the feeling that…" and with a groan, she slipped out of consciousness again.

I gritted my teeth. Wasn't Kronos dead? Was he immortal or something? Stupid question. He was Kronos, lord of the titans, for crying out loud.

I picked up Annabeth, who was bleeding profusely…  
>And started running for help. But then I stopped.<p>

We were in the middle of some deserted canon. There was no existing 'help' anywhere near. Only me, and I had no power over…  
>Wait. Water could heal me, it could heal her. I looked round. No water.<p>

I concentrated on the rocky floor, closed my eyes.

Deep, deep – down, there was water. Underneath the ground.

With all my strength, I willed for it to come up – push up against the rock – pushed, grunted, willed with all my might, until finally it burst like a bomb, through solid stone, scattering rock fragments.  
>I willed it to come around me and Annabeth, enveloping us in its cool, crystal vortex. It didn't matter if Annabeth got some water up her throat, I thought, as long she was healed…<p>

I willed the water to pummel through her, though the wound. It splashed inside, circulated, and then splashed back out, cloudy with red.

Wait, I thought, I was just removing more blood from her body! This wasn't supposed to happen. So I willed the water to not touch the blood, just race around inside her.  
>This time, when it emerged, it'd gone only a slight bit cloudy, with no red. Good. That meant all it was was impure and unusable for more healing. I willed it to go through forty, fifty times. The cut began closing up. I was darn tired now, didn't know why – but apparently using water to heal others tired me out.<p>

It'd circulated her insides about two hundred time now, I could actually keep count – and I was almost dropping dead from exhaustion.

Four hundred times. The gash in her side was a quarter of what it'd been earlier.

It kept closing up, bit by bit. It was just an irked-looking one-inch cut in her side when I felt next to the last bit of power drain from me.  
>I knew her body couldn't cope with a wound and a quarter of its normal amount of blood. I willed the waters to swirl around the blood lying around us – made it purify the blood, so it was fresh and red, and not maroon and too thick.<p>

Made the water pick the blood up, and ferry it through the slight gap in Annabeth's torso. The water slid back out, cloudier than ever. It was the last of my strength and the last of my power. I was spent.  
>I looked over at Annabeth. She was still pale. She hardly breathed. Then I knew.<p>

You can fix a broken car, but you can't get it to run without gasoline. Annabeth needed some gasoline. Some ambrosia and nectar.

I knew a small portion of my blood had both those in it, because I'd glugged down a glass of it earlier the day before.  
>I was invulnerable... and wounding myself in the small of my back would kill me. if I was dead, how was Annabeth ever going to heal? So I threw up – blood. How, I don't know. I guess just willing it. Cupped my hand under it, gathered the blood. There was some gold swirling about. Immortal ichor. Of course. Why hadn't Annabeth's blood been streaked with gold, then? She probably had been without nectar and ambrosia for quite some time.<p>

Into my other hand, I let the blood flow. Ambrosia and nectar are thicker than blood, so the blood dripped down first, leaving the immortal substance behind. I cupped my hand next to Annabeth's wound, let it flow through.

The color returned to Annabeth's face. She breathed evenly. I stared at her. I had saved her. But, without water to replenish me, and being weak, and not having immortal elements in my veins to help any of those causes – I would die before I could even eat to survive.

-0-

I woke up. I thought I was dead. Then I looked at myself. My shirt was rolled up till my chest; the wound was much, much smaller. I felt replenished like I always did when I had some nectar and ambrosia.  
>I looked around. There was a slightly bleeding figure slumped right next to me. I gingerly turned it over.<p>

"Percy!"

There was a gash in one of his arms. In his hand were traces of blood – and something gold. Nectar and ambrosia, in his blood.  
>I sat down hard. Looking around. There was muddy, cloudy water all around us. Then I understood.<p>

He'd healed me with the water.

Given me his blood so I would live.

I thought of Percy Jackson's blood circulating inside me. I did not know whether to blush or be sick.

Percy had sacrificed himself for me.

Like every other time. He'd given himself up. A tear slid out of my eye. I pounded my fist into the rock I was sitting on. If I just had to lose Percy, why did I have to ever fall in love with him?  
>I sat up. I'd just admitted to myself that I loved him. Like really did. Like love. Like wanting-him-to-be-the-father-of-my-children, grow-old-with-me love. Freaky.<br>That got me crying even harder.

I cradled his head in my arms. We were stuck down in this canon. Nothing to eat. No golden drachma to call for help. How could he use his empathy link to call Grover if he was dead! Wait. That meant Grover was also –

"No!" I screamed into the sky.

"Percy," I breathed his name.

I leaned down, my hair enveloping us like a blanket. My nose brushed his.

His jaw slacked open, and he gasped for air.

I sat him up, tilted his chin. He still struggled to breath.

I leaned down to parallel our mouths. "Percy," I breathed his name into his mouth. "Wake up. It's me. It's Annabeth. Wake up."  
>I breathed air into his mouth, pushed it in –<p>

He gave a cough and jerked.  
>He was still very weak.<p>

But he was alive.

He opened his eyes.  
>"Annabeth," he croaked. "Hey."<p>

I stared at him in surprise.

"What?"

"You… look. Beautiful." He closed his eyes again, looked ready to die any second.

Partly because he was dying, and partly because I wanted to – I leaned down.

Our lips met.

Percy opened his eyes again.

"Thanks, Annabeth." He touched my face.

"I'm so sorry I'm going to have to leave you. Take Riptide. Please."

I felt like I was about to cry. I guess kiss power can't permanently replenish.

He thrust his sword into my hand.

Leaned up, and gave me one of the most electrocuting kisses in mankind.

I put my hands on his face. "I love you."

He smiled. "I love you too, Annabeth. Keep that in mind. Don't forget me. I'm sorry if we're never going to see each other again."

He layed back down. The way his black hair was matted with blood... our blood, the way he went limp into me almost immediately…

A fire flamed within me.

"Seaweed Brain, never say never."


End file.
